Feb 162015
When my yokai-themed horror story “Rokurokubi” was accepted by Wicked Words Quarterly, I expressed my hope for Yokai Watch localization.
Yokai Watch is a new franchise by Level-5 (the company behind Professor Layton and Fantasy Life, among other games) with a familiar concept: a young boy summons Japanese monsters known as yokai to battle other yokai and capture them. Comparisons to Pokémon are unavoidable, and its popularity in Japan has skyrocketed. So far it has:
- The Yokai Watch video game for the 3DS
- Three versions of Yokai Watch 2 for the 3DS (similar to how Pokémon generations include multiple versions)
- Two manga adaptations
- An anime, coming West this year
- A movie
- Tons of merchandise
- An upcoming toy line
Last summer, Level-5 announced the Yokai Watch toy line would be coming West, which renewed localization hopes. Since then, we haven’t heard much about the franchise except its continued success in Japan… until now.
Level-5 announced its partnership with Hasbro to bring the Level-5 franchise west. The toy line is coming in 2016, and this “will also include additional broadcasting, video game and merchandising relationships to be announced later this year.”
Those video game relationships should mean the release of the Yokai Watch 3DS games, although that hasn’t been explicitly stated. I’ll let you know as soon as we get an official announcement, but for now, Yokai Watch localization seems all but confirmed.
Will the same be true of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 someday?
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